Ralph J. Dolan: Fears dark vision of Steve Bannon

Donald Trump is a rather clownish figure, a rather pudgy old soul with shirtsleeves rolled up having a round of golf.

He has a very high opinion of himself and holds others to a high standard of beauty and intelligence. And yet the observations of him on the links indicate that he’s constantly cheating. For him, I’m sure it’s not cheating. He makes up the rules. And he does not bother with trifles.

What’s far more important to Trump is kissing the derrieres of all the people who comprise the 1 percent of the population who have accumulated 80 percent of the Earth’s wealth. He aspires to be one of them, a multibillionaire who is so universally adored that his picture is splattered everywhere so that the populace can be reminded of his greatness throughout the day.

The collective human initiative that has created a structure whereby 1 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth is a form of white-gloved slavery. No chains. No whips. Just economic coercions and endless, grave indignities.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s fired soul mate, is an anarchist. He would like to bring this whole white-gloved structure down, down to a smoldering ruin.

Steve Bannon is a hungry alpha leading a pack of hungry wolves, cleaned-up skinhead types, scavenging, looking for an opening in the fabric of the social order that he might exploit, that might thrust him into the position of power. Steve Bannon is a thug, a rabid tyrant, an ethnonationalist.

Never discount Steve Bannon. He’s very bold. Imagine, he’s hungry for power, hungry for more discipline in government. He would dismantle it — no social services, no commitment to the common good, no commitment to the Earth.

Steve Bannon represents autocratic rule of another sort. Suddenly, he finds himself strolling around in the very inner sanctum of world power — the corridors of congress. Already he stands out for the raggedness of his appearance.

But you can spot the samurai warrior in him. He’s fierce. He’s consumed by something, some big idea. Secretly, he aspires to be Sun King and to create a truly new kind of society based upon military sparseness and discipline. Keep up or die. It’s the law of the jungle.

Steve Bannon does not care what anybody things of him. He doesn’t kiss up to anybody. He is a warrior with a dark vision for saving us all from ourselves. The dark powers that he represents are an unsettling proposition — more exploitative, more despotic, more warmongering.